German criminal defense Lawyer Ferner

It rarely begins dramatically: A letter from the german tax investigation office, an unannounced visit to the business premises, a phone call from the tax adviser who no longer wants to talk only about back payments – and suddenly it is no longer just money at stake, but the question of intent, imprisonment and seized assets. Anyone who, as an entrepreneur, member of a liberal profession or asset holder, finds themselves caught up in these proceedings experiences a rupture: the relationship between citizen and tax authority turns into a criminal case in which the investigators conduct their inquiries with the powers of the police.

As a german specialist lawyer for criminal law, I have for years been conducting the defence in tax criminal proceedings – from the search, through the asset seizure, to the main hearing and its economic consequences – and have in doing so regularly achieved for my clients discontinuations, terminations of proceedings and measured outcomes. At the same time, I am active as an author and have written, among other things, articles on confiscation in tax criminal proceedings and on the question of when the evaded tax can be skimmed off at all as “something obtained”. Further topics of my publications are criminal aiding and abetting through neutral, profession-typical activities of tax advisers and bookkeepers, as well as the liability of the tax adviser for a monetary condition paid in the course of a discontinuation under § 153a StPO (German Code of Criminal Procedure).

Anyone who read the headlines in the spring of 2024 was, for a moment, allowed to feel liberated: cannabis was said to be legal, the joint in the park no longer a matter for the public prosecutor. Two years later, many are experiencing a rude awakening – the house search over three plants, the criminal investigation over a bag discarded at the wrong moment, the indictment over a harvest quantity that the freshly enacted law actually intended to permit. It is precisely here, in the gap between perceived freedom and persisting threat of punishment, that the practical everyday reality of cannabis defense plays out today.

The defense in cannabis and narcotics proceedings is among the established focal points of my work; at the same time, I regularly publish on cannabis criminal law and investigative practice – for instance on the entry into force of the KCanG and the quantity concepts (Ferner, jurisPR-StrafR 8/2024 Anm. 2), as well as on the usability of ANOM and EncroChat data (Ferner, jurisPR-ITR 16/2024 Anm. 4). My remarks on the quantity concepts were taken up by the Grand Senate for Criminal Matters of the Federal Court of Justice in its leading decision on quantity calculation and confiscation (BGH, decision of 3 February 2025 – GSSt 1/24).

The EPPO’s “Emily” operation against an alleged multimillion-euro VAT carousel in the luxury car sector illustrates how quickly cross-border trade can slide from aggressive tax planning into full-blown criminal exposure – and how asset confiscation has become at least as dangerous as the threat of a prison sentence.

Cannabis for personal use is no longer treated as a “classic” narcotic under German law – but that does not mean it is harmless from a criminal law perspective. The new Cannabis Use Act (Konsumcannabisgesetz, KCanG) still creates a dense web of offences, and recent case law by the Federal Court of Justice (BGH), higher regional courts and the Bavarian Supreme Court (BayObLG) shows that criminal investigations, seizures and prison sentences remain very real risks for consumers, home growers and those involved in the commercial market.